The Fisher-Price Toy Controller Now Actually Works, Thanks to Clever Hack

Every mum or dad excitedly awaits the day after they can share their pursuits with their baby, even avid gamers. But when that day arrives and your five-year-old is reaching for an costly wi-fi controller with peanut butter-covered fingers, you possibly can both let the concept of a pint-sized participant two die, or turn a Fisher-Price toddler toy right into a kid-friendly game pad.

The YouTube channel Retrograde Scene went for the latter route, and after discovering a Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Game & Learn Controller for reasonable from an area thrift retailer (and giving it a much-needed cleansing), they set about upgrading its guts in order that as a substitute of simply triggering sound results, lights, and music, its buttons really labored as actual sport inputs.

Thankfully, the toy’s PCB board lent itself properly to digital upgrades, with pre-existing solder-friendly check factors that might be wired as much as the cheap FireBeetle: an ESP32-based microcontroller that might additionally carry Bluetooth and wifi into the combo.

Accommodating the controller’s upgraded guts required the within to be cleared out to make room for brand new elements, together with the toy’s battery field. Instead, the AAA batteries that used to suit inside it have been replaced with a extra handy rechargeable battery and a brand new USB-C port.

On the software program facet of issues, a number of the heavy lifting had already been carried out, with an current Bluetooth gamepad library for the ESP32, however Retrograde Scene went above and past the decision of obligation right here with a customized iOS app, permitting the button mapping on the Fisher-Price gamepad to be modified on the fly for when utilizing it with the Nintendo Switch or an Xbox. That places this practice creation on par with 8BitDo’s controllers, however how may anybody not select the gamepad with a large smiley face on it?